> select a,b,c from a where d=2 order by e limit 10;
> select count(*) from a where d=2;
>
> The point is that I want to know the total number
> of matches and I also want to use "limit". And
> I don't want to do two queries.
>
Perhaps GROUP BY will get you where you want to go:
select count(*), a, b, c from a where d=2 group by a, b, c order by e limit 10;
-Tony